Startup Idea: Automation Software for Food Cost Management and Waste Reduction

Startup idea to develop an intuitive and user-friendly application designed for the food and beverage industry. The software would help to manage and reduce food costs and waste, taking into account factors such as recipe measurements, ingredient costs, dish pricing and the waste generated during dish preparation. The application would connect with suppliers' ingredient prices and allow chefs to input their own recipes, assisting in planning economically efficient menus.

I work in the food and beverage industry as a chef within a small but successful/busy michelin star restaurant.

We struggle with food costs and revenue loss through food waste due to lack of attention by employees, lack of attention to portion control, and so on.

We have attempted to use certain applications like CalcMenu to calculate recipe measurements and prices but it is extremely difficult to use and not user friendly in the slightest making it ineffective since we do not have a ton of extra time in our week to dedicate to learning how to use it.

The ideal solution would be an application that accounts for recipes, ingredients in the recipes, current food costs/ingredient costs, dish pricing, and food waste created through the making of the dish.

It would be a basic system that is linked to the suppliers ingredient prices and the recipes would be input by the chefs themselves. It would essentially just be an interface where the two can interconnect so chefs can make the most economically efficient menus/dishes for their restaurants.

We tried using CalcMenu but it truly is too difficult for any working chef to attempt using.

Submitter: Meghan, (view contact info).